TW-805290

A very nice card from Taiwan, depicting the Wunwu Temple on the Sun Moon Lake. 

Around 80 years ago, there were two temples on the Sun Moon Lake coast. Japanese government wanted generate electricity, they built dam and made water level raised up. These two temples were torn down and rebuilt as one in present location and Wenwu Temple was finished in 1938.

Photo by Yuyen.

TW-805290, sent by Serena.

After World War II, government spent money to develop tourism industry in Sun Moon Lake, and rebuilt Wenwu Temple again, making it greater, bigger, and more Chinese palace style. There are three separate halls. On the second floor of the front hall is a shrine devoted to the First Ancestor Kaiji and the God of Literature; the central hall is devoted to Guan Gong, the God of War, and the warrior-god Yue Fei; the rear hall is dedicated to Confucius.

Chinese guardian lions are common to be seen in front of temple. One is male and the other is female. When looking at the entrance from outside the building, facing the lions, the male lion with the ball is on the right, and the female with the cub is on the left. The lions are always presented in pairs. In mainland China, there were no lions. They were imported from India. According to tales, our ancestors didn’t know lion well and thought they had spirit power, loved firework, and liked sitting on the ground. Therefore, Chinese guardian lions are regarded as door guardians and some of them sitting beside large censer. - in: http://www.roundtaiwanround.com/post/15769892593/wenwu-temple